Fed continues low interest rates

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Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at a congressional hearing in December Greg Nash/Pool via Associated Press

Federal Reserve governors decided to keep the federal funds rate between zero and 0.25 percent during their meeting on Wednesday. They also signaled they will stick with low rates as the economy emerges from its COVID-19 struggles. “We’re a long way from a full recovery,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said, pointing to high levels of unemployment due to the pandemic.

What else did Powell say? At a news conference, reporters asked whether the Fed should respond to speculative surges in some stock prices, such as that of electronics retailer GameStop. (The price of GameStop shares went from $18 to $380 in only a few weeks as small buyers worked to undermine moves by investment firms to short the stock.) Powell said Fed policies aren’t the right tools to deal with stock speculation.

Dig deeper: Read Rachel Lynn Aldrich’s report in The Sift about the recent uptick in job losses.

Timothy Lamer

Tim is executive editor of WORLD Commentary. He previously worked for the Media Research Center in Alexandria, Va. His work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Weekly Standard.